Scandalous Human Rights Abuse by Thai Govt

From: Obersturmbanfuhrer Olly Subject: Thai government is ROTTEN TO THE CORE When Dissent Is CriminalizedFirst published May 26, 2010

Over the past two months, Thailand’s Abhisit regime has opened firewith live ammunition on the Red Shirt pro-democracy demonstration inBangkok, killing at least 88 of its own citizens and injuring morethan 1,800, including foreign journalists and onlookers. In adesperate bid to escape international condemnation for these unlawfulkillings, Abhisit is trying to paint the demonstrators as terroristsand enemies of the state.

Many around the world are not fooled. Writing in the Financial Times,David Piling said, “Attempts to portray the tens of thousands ofmainly poor Thais who took to Bangkok’s streets as ‘terrorists’ orpaid mercenaries of [former Prime Minister] Mr. Thaksin simply do notwash.”

The world saw for itself that the vast majority of pro-democracydemonstrators were peaceful men and women of all ages camped aroundthe central stage area, while those fighting at the barricades weremostly armed with primitive weapons. Journalists around the world havebeen firm in setting the record straight, noting the lopsided natureof the clash. “The Red Shirts were massively outgunned,” reported BillSchiller in the Toronto Star, noting that most of what was seen wereslingshots, fireworks, Molotov cocktails, rocks, and a few small arms.

However that doesn’t mean the government still isn’t pushing hard tosell the terrorist narrative as a justification for possible humanrights abuses. This past weekend diplomatic delegations weredispatched to key allies bearing photographs and slick multimediapresentations of an alleged arms cache that they claimed to havediscovered days after clearing out the protest camp – a time duringwhich no third parties were allowed to enter this zone to confirm thediscovery. They’ve also issued a warrant for the arrest on terrorismallegations of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom theyclaim is the mastermind of the Red Shirts (disclosure: I represent Mr.Shinawatra as legal counsel).

Many factors undermine the Abhisit regime’s terrorism claims: thegovernment has consistently resisted international mediation requestsfrom the protestors, which would in theory corroborate such claims;they have obstructed the work of journalists (one correspondent forthe Times of London was detained at his hotel, while many others wereseemingly targeted during the siege, including two seriously woundedCanadians – Nelson Rand and Chandler Vandergrift); they’ve shut downhundreds of websites and media sympathetic to the Red Shirts whilelaunching charges against student leaders and academics associatedwith the movement; and lastly, no one is able to explain how so manylocal and foreign correspondents inside the Red Shirt camps for weeksfailed to record the presence of serious war weapons.

Some observers point to the parallels between this attack on the RedShirts and the massacre of 46 student protestors at ThammasatUniversity in 1976. As happened then, the government is portraying theprotesters as evil criminals and enemies of the state, while theircontrol over the media allows for the stirring up of hate and publictolerance for violence against fellow Thais. In the aftermath ofThammasat, it was later discovered that the Thai military had planteda big weapons cache on the students after the fact to justify theiractions.

The criminalization of Red Shirt protestors as terrorists is even moredangerous than a simple excuse for violence – it is a focused measureaimed at reducing their basic rights to defence, attorneys, andtrials. Of the more than 40 protest leaders who have been arrested,the government has refused to disclose their location of detention,the charges against them, or their health status. The government hasdeclared a state of emergency since April 7, allowing them to arrestwhomever they choose without charges and hold them in non-conventionalfacilities – which raises concerns, alluded to by Human Rights Watch,over possible torture or mistreatment. The authorities say thatthousands of Red Shirts have been provided with transportation back totheir homes, but so far no one has been able to verify who was takenwhere.

These accusations of terrorism against the protesters have been madeeasier by the existence of real crimes on the fringes of thedemonstration. The so-called “Black Shirts,” who have no relation tothe peaceful spirit and stated principles of the United Front forDemocracy against Dictatorship (UDD), have likely been involved inillegal activity and should be arrested and prosecuted before a courtfor their crimes. Those responsible for the terrible acts of arsonthat affected more than 20 buildings in Bangkok, including massivedamage to the Central World shopping mall, must be investigated andprosecuted for their crimes.

But these isolated activities on the lawless fringes represent theoutrage and frustration of misled individuals, and have nothing to dowith the non-violent political change espoused by the UDD, much lessany conventional definition of terrorism.

There is also a perception on behalf of the Red Shirts that the legalsystem is unfairly biased against them. When activists of the pro-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) illegally occupiedand shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in 2008,not one of these protestors was ever investigated, charged,prosecuted, or jailed for this crime, and in fact the current foreignminister was personally involved.

The conduct of the Thai authorities is not that of a victim ofterrorism, but rather the behavior of someone who has something tohide. The invention of new crimes to cover up older ones is notacceptable in the contemporary context of international law, and thiscrass manipulation must be openly discouraged by outside parties. TheRed Shirts risked their lives and suffered considerable casualtiesbecause their democratic choices and popular will had been repeatedlydisqualified and stolen. Until that central grievance is addressed,all other accusations are only distractions.

The international community must ask Thailand to uphold the rule oflaw and basic procedural rights for citizens who have done nothingmore than express their opposition to the ruling party. At a minimum,the Abhisit government has a duty to disclose the location of theprison camps and the conditions for the detained protesters, confirmtheir access to legal counsel and the basis of the charges againstthem, and grant access to international human rights monitors toensure fair treatment of the detained Red Shirt leaders.

Robert Amsterdam is international lawyer to former Prime MinisterThaksin Shinawatra and advisor to the human rights defence team of theUDD.